Secrets of the Job Hunt

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

As the city's unemployment rate continued to decline, Dallas medical jobs and teaching jobs saw the biggest yearly increase in employment.

During November 2009, the Dallas-Plano-Irving area's unemployment rate decreased from 8.3 percent to 7.9 percent, following a decrease from 8.4 percent during October. That places the city lower than the national unemployment rate of 10 percent.

The Dallas area had a total non-farm employment of 2,073,000 workers during November, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 2,065,800 workers during October, but a 2.1 percent decrease from November 2008.

Eight industries saw a monthly increase in employment, including: mining, logging and construction by 1,000 jobs; manufacturing by 900 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities by 3,800 jobs; information by 100 jobs; financial activities by 800 jobs; education and health services by 600 jobs; other services by 100 jobs; and government by 2,000 jobs.

Only two industries managed to add jobs when compared to November 2008, with the education and health services industry seeing the biggest increase in employment. That industry employed 255,500 workers during November, up from 254,900 workers during October and a 9 percent increase from the previous year.

The government industry employed 274,200 workers during November, up from 272,200 workers during October and a 1 percent increase from November 2008.

The mining, logging and construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to the previous year. That industry employed 112,700 workers during November, up from 111,700 workers during October, but a 9.3 percent decrease from November 2008.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include: